Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust, told HSJ the accounting treatment was, in effect, creating another capital to revenue transfer. She added: “This is not what the general public believed would happen when NHS assets were sold. In their eyes, the money would be there ready to invest in new facilities.”

Lagging behind

Regular HSJ readers will know the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has had a difficult few years. However, under its current leadership, a new independent report has described the watchdog as moving from a state of “critical care” to “recovery”.

The independent report for the new ombudsman Rob Behrens also notes the PHSO delivers significant value for money and the new leadership is doing good work delivering for the public and stakeholders alike.

However, it also points to the widely known issue of the legislative basis on which the ombudsman works. This legislation is decades old and no longer reflects the world in which NHS patients wishing to complain about services actually live.